Recently, there has been an increased interest in improving protection of commercial aircraft. One specific area of increased interest with regard to protection of commercial aircraft is protection of commercial aircraft from ground to air missiles. Examples of ground to air missile systems of specific concern are Man Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS), which are man-portable surface to air missiles. MANPADS pose a serious threat to aircraft in general due to their portability, compared to more stationary missile systems that are larger and require transportation via a vehicle, thereby making them easier to detect, and therefore, easier to protect against.
MANPADS defense systems have been mounted on commercial aircraft for the purpose of defending against MANPADS. Unfortunately, MANPADS defense systems have certain limitations. As an example, MANPADS defense systems have limitations as to how many missiles they are capable of defending an associated aircraft from at one time. Therefore, if multiple missiles are launched at the same time or near the same time, the MANPADS defense system may fail to protect the associated aircraft.
Another limitation of MANPADS defense systems becomes apparent in areas with multiple aircrafts flying in a confined area, such as in airports. Since there may be many aircrafts having MANPADS defense systems departing or arriving at an airport at the same time, an attack on one aircraft among the many may cause multiple MANPADS defense systems to attempt to defend against a single missile at the same time. Unfortunately, multiple MANPADS defense systems detecting a missile and acting at the same time in close vicinity of each other may cause interference between the MANPADS defense systems, thereby limiting their defensive capabilities and placing the target of the missile in great danger.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.